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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Barney Frank, by popular demand

Barney Frank, by popular demand

by DougJ|  August 19, 20099:55 am| 134 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I’d like to see the rest of the interview interrupted here, because I wonder if Frist attempted a remote diagnosis of this woman.

(via Wonkette)

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Previous Post: « Star Wars, those near and far wars
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Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    rob!

    August 19, 2009 at 9:56 am

    God bless Barney Frank. Mock these idiots TO THEIR FACES.

  2. 2.

    robertdsc

    August 19, 2009 at 9:59 am

    God damn, that was good.

  3. 3.

    El Cid

    August 19, 2009 at 9:59 am

    You gotta love the complaint later on that Frank is insulting people. Someone stands up with a picture of Obama as Hitler and basically suggests that Democratic attempts to control the growth of health care costs means a Nazi Final Solution in which you murder the socially undesirable, and this in front of a real Congressman, not your “Red Dawn” movie poster, and you’re not supposed to be mocked for it. Right.

  4. 4.

    YellowJournalism

    August 19, 2009 at 10:01 am

    I heart Barney Frank.

  5. 5.

    Trinity

    August 19, 2009 at 10:02 am

    More of this please.

    kthnxbai

  6. 6.

    WyldPirate

    August 19, 2009 at 10:03 am

    We need way more of this.

    The ignorant assholes and liars in this country need ridicule–hopefully until they collapse in tears–in the worst way. In fact, the press, especially cable, needs to start doing this on a daily basis.

  7. 7.

    someguy

    August 19, 2009 at 10:03 am

    My only criticism of Frank is that he is way too polite here, and not nearly as insulting as these cretins deserve. And that he probably should ahve had security drag her out and kick her ass in the street.

    But other than that, he did a great job.

  8. 8.

    BDeevDad

    August 19, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Barney Frank FTW.

  9. 9.

    Demo Woman

    August 19, 2009 at 10:04 am

    The Today Show aired the part where Barney said “What planet are you from”. No mention of Obama as Hitler photo. This segment was before the discussion on whether or not Michelle Obama should wear shorts in 100 degree weather. Showing great restraint, I did not break the TV.

  10. 10.

    James K. Polk, Esq.

    August 19, 2009 at 10:06 am

    Typical liberal hyperbole, the kitchen table would be way more productive to have a conversation with.

  11. 11.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    August 19, 2009 at 10:06 am

    Here is more of Barney at the same townhall. What’s not to love about him?

  12. 12.

    asiangrrlMN

    August 19, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Barney, if you ever decide to switch teams, I would be more than eager to welcome you to the wonders of womanly flesh. The look of contempt and the disdain dripping from his voice as he eviscerates this clueless bitch is priceless. Now, he and his fellow Dems need to be doing the same thing to their Republican colleagues.

  13. 13.

    amorphous

    August 19, 2009 at 10:07 am

    From the Wonkette comments, a supposedly much longer version here.

    http://www.necn.com/Boston/NECN-Extra/2009/08/18/Rep-Frank-condemns-those/1250643022.html

    I’ll embed links when the buttons are back. My fingers are too lazy for html tagging.

  14. 14.

    amorphous

    August 19, 2009 at 10:09 am

    @amorphous: Yeah, that’s like 15 minutes, that one.

  15. 15.

    donovong

    August 19, 2009 at 10:14 am

    Mr. Frank was obviously slandering innocent victims here….dining tables.

  16. 16.

    amk

    August 19, 2009 at 10:14 am

    @James K. Polk, Esq.:

    Well, at least the kitchen table has a leg to stand on unlike this unhinged racist nutjob of a woman.

  17. 17.

    wasabi gasp

    August 19, 2009 at 10:15 am

    Mental health services in a public option will bankrupt us.

  18. 18.

    JK

    August 19, 2009 at 10:15 am

    Barney Frank was pitch perfect in speaking to this delusional asshole.

    One more town hall asshole
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/18/woman-shouts-heil-hitler_n_262554.html

    OT

    Fuck scumbag prick Charles Grassley
    Grassley Calls Obama and Pelosi Intellectually Dishonest
    http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/grassley-calls-obama-pelosi-intellectually-dishonest/

  19. 19.

    Crashman06

    August 19, 2009 at 10:16 am

    This clip helped banish some of the creeping despair I’m beginning to feel about this whole health care thing.

    Also, am I being naive to say that I really didn’t think there were this many crazy people in this country?

  20. 20.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    August 19, 2009 at 10:16 am

    @donovong:

    Ha! My dining table has never compared someone to Hitler, after all.

  21. 21.

    cleek

    August 19, 2009 at 10:18 am

    @amk:

    nice :)

    you forgot the /rimshot tag, though!

  22. 22.

    Lee

    August 19, 2009 at 10:18 am

    I read a comment somewhere that the look on her face was…

    “Oh shit , I just became a youtube hit”.

  23. 23.

    low-tech cyclist

    August 19, 2009 at 10:20 am

    @Notorious P.A.T.: And if it did, then to quote Neil Diamond, “no one heard at all, not even the chair.”

  24. 24.

    amorphous

    August 19, 2009 at 10:21 am

    @JK: Just beware, Hitler lady, it’s easy to find your Facebook page.

    http://gawker.com/5340436/meet-pamela-pilger-the-crazy-lady-who-yelled-heil-hitler-at-a-jewish-supporter-of-health-care-reform

  25. 25.

    YellowJournalism

    August 19, 2009 at 10:22 am

    Watching it again (because it was that good), I realized that the woman looks almost exactly like the female alien from “Cocoon”. Explains so much.

  26. 26.

    Ash Can

    August 19, 2009 at 10:22 am

    It’s about god damned time someone spoke the truth to these assholes instead of coddling them with civility and respect that they don’t even begin to deserve. Barney Frank FTW.

  27. 27.

    Leelee for Obama

    August 19, 2009 at 10:23 am

    @Crashman06:The level of crazy is in direct proportion to the Party in power. So, that being said, I think people manifesting mental disturbance openly has risen, but they have always been around, just in the pupal stage. The level of heat generated by the right-wing has caused them to come out of their chrysalis early.

  28. 28.

    low-tech cyclist

    August 19, 2009 at 10:23 am

    Taking the woman’s complaints more seriously, I’d think the current system, where ‘undesirables’ are more likely than the rest of us to die early due to lack of timely medical care, would be far more to the Nazis’ liking than the reform package being proposed.

  29. 29.

    Punchy

    August 19, 2009 at 10:25 am

    Never mess with a man (or dinosaur) named Barney.

  30. 30.

    jenniebee

    August 19, 2009 at 10:28 am

    @JK: You really have to see the full video on that one, and the interview with the woman afterward, to get a full appreciation for the bugfuck insanity of it all.

    Links here.

  31. 31.

    Rainy

    August 19, 2009 at 10:29 am

    That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t know why anybody is putting up with these people.

  32. 32.

    Tom S.

    August 19, 2009 at 10:29 am

    The lady is a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche (she credits LaRouche with scuttling the public option in the longer extract from the town hall meeting).

  33. 33.

    Donald G

    August 19, 2009 at 10:32 am

    If you listen to the nutjob carefully, she says that Lyndon Larouche has beaten the “Nazi plan”. In my experience, the only people who believe what Larouche claims are the Larouchies themselves. I think we have an answer to what planet she’s from.

  34. 34.

    Lizzy L

    August 19, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Love the man. “Having a conversation with you would be like having a conversation with a dining room table — and I’m not going to do it.” It’s not only that he makes it clear she’s a wacko, he also makes it clear that he’s not going to waste time on her idiot question. Nor should anyone.

  35. 35.

    chopper

    August 19, 2009 at 10:35 am

    @El Cid:

    guy: “you’re a nazi”

    other guy: “nazi? jesus, you’re a buffoon”

    guy: “hey, why the insults?”

    only in america.

  36. 36.

    CJR

    August 19, 2009 at 10:35 am

    Let that clip wash over you like a refreshing summer rain!

  37. 37.

    El Cid

    August 19, 2009 at 10:39 am

    @Lizzy L:

    It’s not only that he makes it clear she’s a wacko, he also makes it clear that he’s not going to waste time on her idiot question.

    You see, that just makes him part of the cover-up.

  38. 38.

    JK

    August 19, 2009 at 10:39 am

    @jenniebee: Thanks for that link.

    @amorphous: Thanks for the information.

    I wish all of these assholes comparing Obama to Hitler could be brought into one of the Nazi extermmination which has been preserved as a reminder of the Holocaust. These people are the ugliest of ugly Americans.

  39. 39.

    jenniebee

    August 19, 2009 at 10:40 am

    @Donald G: I didn’t hear that, but it doesn’t surprise me – my first thought was that she was probably a LaRouche “Democrat.”

  40. 40.

    GReynoldsCT00

    August 19, 2009 at 10:40 am

    Wonderful to see Barney calling this woman out; too many of them have let themselves get run over by these whackadoodles

  41. 41.

    JK

    August 19, 2009 at 10:40 am

    @jenniebee: Thanks for that link.

    @amorphous: Thanks for the information.

    I wish all of these assholes comparing Obama to Hitler could be brought into one of the Nazi extermination camps which has been preserved as a reminder of the Holocaust. These people are the ugliest of ugly Americans.

  42. 42.

    Cain

    August 19, 2009 at 10:44 am

    Anybody read the part in the comments where later on in the same town hall meeting people were screaming that the bill helps illegal aliens. Barney says that the bill doesn’t do that so they screamed “Read the BIll!” So he said okay, and took out a copy of the bill and read the part that said that illegal aliens weren’t covered.

    Fucking awesome. Barney Frank is one awesome Dem.. more please!

    cain

  43. 43.

    Citizen_X

    August 19, 2009 at 10:44 am

    Frank rocks for this, but I have to wonder:

    Is there not a single Republican in the entire country who is mortified by the sudden appearance of freaking Larouchites on their side? I mean, Jeebus, these guys have been insane for decades.

    I think I was under the (hopeful) assumption that they had all gone off somewhere to do the Jonestown final solution, or something. And yet here they come, roaring out of nowhere and getting all over television, and being treated, for the first time in the entire history of their cult, as if they were slightly coherent. What gives?

  44. 44.

    Avi

    August 19, 2009 at 10:46 am

    @WyldPirate:

    The ignorant assholes and liars in this country need ridicule—hopefully until they collapse in tears—in the worst way. In fact, the press, especially cable, needs to start doing this on a daily basis.

    The way things are going, the press, especially cable, needs to have this done to them on a daily basis.

  45. 45.

    Michael D.

    August 19, 2009 at 10:47 am

    I was listening to Neal Boortz on the way into work this morning (NPR had gone to classical music…)

    Even Boortz was calling this woman a moron and praised Frank for the way he handled it.

  46. 46.

    someguy

    August 19, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Is there not a single Republican in the entire country who is mortified by the sudden appearance of freaking Larouchites on their side? I mean, Jeebus, these guys have been insane for decades.

    Don’t kid yourself. The LaRouchies represent mainstream conservative thought, right down to the Jew-hatred and racism. The Republicans aren’t mortified because “we has met the LaRouchies, and they is us.”

    Honestly, these people should be stripped of the franchise.

  47. 47.

    HRA

    August 19, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Yes, I would wish there would be a tour of those camps for these idiots who spout what they have no idea about at all.

    Barney made my day. Love this guy!

  48. 48.

    Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)

    August 19, 2009 at 10:52 am

    While we’re (sort of) on the subject: any moron who knowingly comes into proximity of the POTUS with an assault weapon hanging on his shoulder, just to make some bonehead political point, deserves an ass-whipping from the Secret Service.

  49. 49.

    handy

    August 19, 2009 at 10:54 am

    @Michael D.:

    Heh. As they say, “When you lose Neal Boortz,” etc.

  50. 50.

    Donald G

    August 19, 2009 at 10:55 am

    @jenniebee:

    The Larouche mention is in the http://www.necn.com link amorphous posted in comment #13. The footage there gives more of her lead-in statement before the fireworks start.

  51. 51.

    Ash Can

    August 19, 2009 at 11:00 am

    Is there not a single Republican in the entire country who is mortified by the sudden appearance of freaking Larouchites on their side?

    Over the years the Republican Party has embraced southern racists, then the military-industrial complex, then religious fanatics, misogynists, black-helicopter gun-nut paranoids, would-be fascists, still more racists… I’d say the Republicans lost the ability to feel embarrassment a long time ago.

  52. 52.

    Sloth

    August 19, 2009 at 11:01 am

    Barney rocks.

    What is sort of amusing is that these people live in Massachusetts.

    Where we’ve already enacted most of Obamacare.

    Only we did it was back in 2006.

    No death panels yet, everything seems fine.

  53. 53.

    gyma

    August 19, 2009 at 11:02 am

    Ammon Shea had an interesting column in the Sunday NY Times wherein he discusses the word protodaw. Seems to me it applies nicely to this kook and many more like her.

  54. 54.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Barney is a genius all right. I especially like this quote:

    Rep. Frank: I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . . .

    And this one is good, too:

    I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists.

  55. 55.

    Elvis Elvisberg

    August 19, 2009 at 11:06 am

    This is a triumph of truth over political correctness.

    There is simply no reason to praise conservatives and maintain their self-esteem when they are throwing these tantrums. They need spankings, not cookies.

    We need this, tenfold, every day. Conservatives need this. America needs this.

  56. 56.

    Leelee for Obama

    August 19, 2009 at 11:07 am

    If Neal Boortz thinks she and her ilk have found the bend and gone around it, I predict the level of insanity is going to go down, at least publicly. There are already more supporters than opponents showing up, and there are many Reps. and Senators pushing back against the worst BS. I hate August, on spec. It’s too hot even when there’s nothing to be argued, so this kind of August is just unbearable.

    On an up note-in Viera, near me there was an AARP meeting as a Senior Center with lots of yelling over speakers. One woman who was interviewed said that we need to listen to what’s said and stop yelling. It made me happy to heat that, as my area voted for that schmuck Posey.

  57. 57.

    handy

    August 19, 2009 at 11:07 am

    @T. O’Hara:

    Good work. And I suppose next you’ll serenade us with a little “Barney and Freddie sittin’ in a tree.”

  58. 58.

    Kathy

    August 19, 2009 at 11:10 am

    On my local NPR station this weekend there was a terrific commentary. It suggested a basic civic test to participate in town halls. Answer the following questions:
    1) US currently spends 8,100 per person a year in health care, true or false.
    2) Medicare is a government program, true or false.
    Answers:1) true, 2) true
    The kicker, if you don’t know the answers to those questions, why should anyone give a damn about what you have to say.

  59. 59.

    handy

    August 19, 2009 at 11:13 am

    1) US currently spends 8,100 per person a year in health care, true or false.

    OK this is bugging me. Where are people coming up with this figure? The president has quoted a figure closer to $6000 per person repeatedly. Somewhere else (it may have been here or Atrios) the figure became $7200. How are these numbers being determined?

  60. 60.

    smiley

    August 19, 2009 at 11:14 am

    @Sloth:

    What is sort of amusing is that these people live in Massachusetts.

    But do they?

  61. 61.

    Barbara

    August 19, 2009 at 11:24 am

    LaRouche supporter. Seriously, I think hearing this woman say “hello” would set me on edge. Her delirious intensity practically makes my screen vibrate.

  62. 62.

    Cat Lady

    August 19, 2009 at 11:29 am

    @Tom S.:

    Posted this in another thread, but this has been happening to Barney for years. Every meeting I’ve been to (he’s my rep) the LaRouchies line up at the microphone 5 deep to squawk. He’s had a lot of practice on nutjob patrol.

  63. 63.

    Ash

    August 19, 2009 at 11:33 am

    I feel like Larouches are particularly wackadoodle in MA. I’ve lived in a quite a few places, and never experienced that level of CARAZY from them that I did in Boston.

  64. 64.

    Da Bomb

    August 19, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Barney Frank is da man! When gives dismissals, he gives them locked and loaded.

    That broad was absolutely insane. Hell a tree stump would have more enlighting things to discuss then she would.

  65. 65.

    Paul L.

    August 19, 2009 at 11:51 am

    Barney Frank is a liar.
    Barney Frank Impales Self Using Own Words.
    There is video of Frank claiming in 2005 there is no housing bubble and his committee will “continue to push for home ownership.” and in a “2009 video on PBS, Frank claims “that conservatives were to blame for pushing unqualified buyers into home ownership, and that he has advocated only for rental housing all along.”

  66. 66.

    El Cid

    August 19, 2009 at 11:54 am

    Barney Frank gave $700 billion in homes to black people and illegal immigrants, but they were invisible homes.

  67. 67.

    PattyP

    August 19, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    Frist would diagnose her as not being brain damaged, and just like in 2005, he’d be wrong.

  68. 68.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 19, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    Best debater in the House. This is like taking BP for him.

  69. 69.

    Nannergrrl

    August 19, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    Awww, <3 Barney.

    I’m giving his office a call today and thanking him.

  70. 70.

    freelancer

    August 19, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    Aunt Kim!

    WTF are you doing in Massachusetts?!

  71. 71.

    feebog

    August 19, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    Mocking these morons without mercy is the only way to respond. Frank’s tone and response was spot on.

  72. 72.

    Polish the Guillotines

    August 19, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    @Tom S.:

    The lady is a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche (she credits LaRouche with scuttling the public option in the longer extract from the town hall meeting).

    The LaRouchies are out in force on the Teabag Tour. The best way to demolish them in these town halls is to ask a simple question:

    “You mentioned Lyndon LaRouche. Would this be the same Lyndon LaRouche who believes the Queen of England is the head of a world-wide cocaine smuggling operation?”

    There’s much, much more, but this is so patently absurd that any semi-rational person in the hall will get the message and the LaRouchies will be forced to defend teh Krazy.

    Win-win.

  73. 73.

    Comrade Kevin

    August 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Interesting about this thread.. Two of the current resident wingnuts show up in it, and, what you do know, they apparently have no problem with what that whack-a-doodle LaRouchie had to say, but instead try to use diversionary tactics. I wonder why that is?

  74. 74.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 19, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    Question: Who or what is a LaRouchie?

  75. 75.

    Comrade Kevin

    August 19, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Follower of Lyndon LaRouche, former left-wing whackjob from the early 70’s, turned into right-wing conspiracy nut whackjob in the late 70’s.

  76. 76.

    John S.

    August 19, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    Barney Frank is a liar.

    Says Paul L. the liar.

    Tell us again Paul all about how Quana = Jenin.

  77. 77.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    I have to confess, I’m completely lost. I don’t know what Republicans are talking about.
    I understood (somewhat) the mainstream GOP-endorsed “death panel” theory.
    Is this a variant of that? Is all of this coming from death panel lie, or are there multiple theories?

  78. 78.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    The death panel theory on the Right started with scary living wills, and then the leadership conflated living wills with “best practices”, which are suggested standards that apply to Medicare billing. Rahm Emanuel’s brother whts-his-name was tangentially included, tacked on later, but only for extra “scare factor”.

    I got that lie. Is this the evolution of that? This lie it turning into a novel.

  79. 79.

    REN

    August 19, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Barney is the closest thing we have to MP George Galloway.Someone who is more than able to defend himself and his policy priorities from idiots like this. Speaking back to them in a language that they will understand.

  80. 80.

    jenniebee

    August 19, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    @Donald G:

    thanks for that link.

    googling Barney Frank Townhall today, unfortunately one of the top hits is Faux news, which says: “Barney Frank was asked some really tough questions” then cuts to clips of Frank giving snarky responses. It’s really masterful propaganda – the viewer is never confronted with the craziness of their fellow travelers and is left to fill in the “tough questions” he or she would want answered, and then gets to see Frank being dismissive of those unenunciated questions.

  81. 81.

    Fleem

    August 19, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    @Michael D.:

    I heard that Boortz thing too. They really tried to find something on Frank but all they could come up with was that same housing thing Paul L is going on about. (BTW 2005 was way early for that bubble talk)

    Plus Barney Frank talks funny and is the ghey. (“Did you hear he’s from the planet Uranus? Hhehehhhehhehhh. He said ‘anus'”)

  82. 82.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    Barney Frank fixed the subprime mortgate mess with “The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007”. Oh wait, didn’t work all that well, did it? Here is a liberal explaining why it was a bad idea:

    Currently, the Frank bill not only insulates the secondary market from the new ability-to-pay and net-tangible-benefit standards, but also, amazingly, pre-empts any state law that currently provides such protections as against secondary holders.

    Here is Frank dissembling about it.

  83. 83.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    The death panel theory on the Right started with scary living wills

    At this point, you ought to know better.

  84. 84.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    Bullshit. The Right conflated the two and you know it.

    Here’s noted conservative thinker Parker, who either conflated the two deliberately, or is simply too stupid to read a sentence in a proposal:

    “Unfortunately, Palin’s more thoughtful comments followed a made-for-the-tabloids Facebook post suggesting that under President Obama’s health-care reform, a “death panel” would kill her elderly parents and her Down syndrome baby.

    Once upon a time, radical reformers could only dream of such helpful enemies. Now that the world is chasing hyperbole, we indeed risk overlooking troublesome language in the end-of-life section of the House health bill, a.k.a. Section 1233 of H.R. 3200.”

    Parker goes on to say that seniors might feel “coerced” and that the House should add specific language making the will provision “voluntary”.

    The mainstream Right promoted the lie, and conflated two separate issues to do it. Alternately, they’re too stupid to read a sentence in a statute.

  85. 85.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    More:

    “Meanwhile, we all know that America’s health-care system is in dire need of repair. We also know, though we’re loath to admit, that we can’t do all things for all people. Technology that enables us to prolong life far beyond what is natural or desirable also threatens to cripple us financially.

    How do mere humans balance the immense powers of “can” against the humbling moral quandary of “should”? This is partly what the bill’s end-of-life section aims to address.

    Theoretically, rational people can dwell happily on the same page. Wouldn’t we all rather make end-of-life provisions voluntarily, while we’re still healthy, than burden family members, who would be reluctant (one hopes) to pull the plug on our darling selves? ”

    Death panels and bets practices, conflated, to push the idea that living wills are a method of rationing.

    That is a LIE, no matter how cleverly or dishonestly it’s presented.

  86. 86.

    Joel

    August 19, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    That woman has the crazy eyes.

  87. 87.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    Know what, O’Hara? That Palin is a pathological liar who covered her own stupidity and dishonesty on advanced directives by issuing a statement that further muddied the waters and compounded the lie by conflating them with “best practices” ?

    45%. That’s the number for those polled who believed Sarah Palin’s lies. It’s remarkably close to the numbers the day of the election. It’s the GOP electorate.

    You’re doing a real disservice to the country with this. Can you not just stop?

  88. 88.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    Bullshit. The Right conflated the two and you know it.

    As if. Here’s the bit of Parker’s quote you so conveniently left off:

    Sarah Palin was right, the second time.

    Because, of course, that didn’t refer to her first facebook page about rationed care (and “death panels”), it referred to her second facebook page, which responded to President Obama’s conflation of the two issues:

    Yesterday President Obama responded to my statement that Democratic health care proposals would lead to rationed care . . .
    The provision that President Obama refers to is Section 1233 of HR 3200, entitled “Advance Care Planning Consultation.” . . .
    Of course, it’s not just this one provision that presents a problem. My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy advisor to President Obama and the brother of the President’s chief of staff. Dr. Emanuel has written that some medical services should not be guaranteed to those “who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens….

    You might want to check your facts.

  89. 89.

    DonkeyKong

    August 19, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    Question, will the republicans run a dinner table for congress in 2010?

    Will Chris Matthews interview it on Hardball calling it a great American heartland table, not one of those coastal faggy armoires?

    Will the dinner table then resign in the middle of its term due to its inability to tie a room together because the liberal media “just makes stuff up.”

  90. 90.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    45%. That’s the number for those polled who believed Sarah Palin’s lies.

    43%. That’s the number for those polled who support the President’s handling of health care policy. I’d also ease up with the “liar” stuff if I were you.

  91. 91.

    Cathaireverywhere

    August 19, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    I called Barney Frank’s office this morning to tell his staff how wonderful he is. They kind of laughed, but seemed to appreciate the positive call. I am sure they get tired of fielding calls from nutjobs.
    Here’s the number, if you want to call:

    (202) 225-5931

    you can’t email unless you are one of his constituents.

  92. 92.

    Ash Can

    August 19, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    @T. O’Hara: Ezekiel Emmanuel’s think piece? Is that what you’re basing your argument on? Really?

    LOL!

  93. 93.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    Oh, baloney. You fell for it yourself. Don’t be sad. 45% of conservative voters did, too.

  94. 94.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 3:59 pm

    Ezekiel Emmanuel’s think piece? Is that what you’re basing your argument on? Really?

    Are you really too dim to read the quotes as quotes? (I’d LOL, but it’s sad, really.)

  95. 95.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    You know what made me laugh about the deliberate conflating of “best practices/death panels/advanced directives?

    The evil Jewish doctor subtext. Rahm Emanuel’s brother is loading the boxcars? Shameless!

    Conservatives are cartoons. You’re caricatures of shameless liars, even the “moderate” punditry can’t resist.

  96. 96.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    Deliberately misrepresenting his (essentially) life’s work?

    Yes we can! And, you did. Luckily for you, his explanation of his work is longer than a bumper sticker, so he was smeared effectively.

    On to the next Palin victim.

  97. 97.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    You know what made me laugh about the deliberate conflating of “best practices/death panels/advanced directives?

    Still can’t admit the President did that conflating, eh?

    President Obama said, “it turns out that this I guess rose out of a provision in one of the House bills that allowed Medicare to reimburse people for consultations about end of life care” as well as living wills, hospice care, and the like. The “intention,” the president said, was to help patients prepare for “end of life on their own terms.”

    Here’s video in case it’s a reading impediment.

    You’re caricatures of shameless liars . . .

    Okay, now an LOL is called for.

  98. 98.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    On to the next Palin victim.

    Kicking the president’s ass from a facebook page. How unfair is that?

  99. 99.

    Blue Raven

    August 19, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    @Ash:

    I feel like Larouches are particularly wackadoodle in MA. I’ve lived in a quite a few places, and never experienced that level of CARAZY from them that I did in Boston.

    Not discounting how my fellow Massholes can breed a special type of pit-bull-stubborn crazy (not with my relatives, I won’t), but the first time I saw anyone call Obama’s health care plan Nazi was in San Francisco. Fresh-faced college-age Korean-American girl (which is the weird part because most of them were male up to this point) calling out to people in the CalTrain depot to “read all about Obama’s Nazi health care plan!” I looked her square in the eye, said, “Oh, FUCK YOU,” and walked on to my bus stop.

  100. 100.

    Thomas Levenson

    August 19, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    As of last Thursday, my congressman. I am so proud.

  101. 101.

    Blue Raven

    August 19, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    @Blue Raven:

    Fresh-faced college-age Korean-American girl (which is the weird part because most of them were male up to this point)

    To clarify my own post, she was the second female LaRouchie I’d seen at the depot. First was the same day, but white. Most of the front people his crazies use at the CalTrain station tend to be college-age white or Indian-American males.

  102. 102.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    No comment on Palin smearing the doctor? No comment on Parker’s malice and/or unbelievable stupidity?

  103. 103.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:20 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    Palin smeared Emanuel’s brother. She would have smeared anyone who had a written record, so it’s really immaterial.

    They probably looked for a physician with a long academic record of history of public service, on the Right, to rebut, but I have the feeling that “science search” is fruitless.

    So you brought out the science “A” team. Sarah Palin.

  104. 104.

    Johnny Pez

    August 19, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    @Crashman06:

    Also, am I being naive to say that I really didn’t think there were this many crazy people in this country?

    Yes.

  105. 105.

    zoe kentucky in pittsburgh

    August 19, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    Folks, please ignore the dining room table that is quoting Sarah Palin as though she is a knowledgable, trustworthy voice on anything other than the voices in her head.

  106. 106.

    zoe kentucky in pittsburgh

    August 19, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    Folks, please ignore the dining room table that is quoting Sarah Palin as though she is a knowledgable, trustworthy source on anything other than the voices in her head.

  107. 107.

    Evinfuilt

    August 19, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    That just about brought a tear to my eye. I’ll drink to that response.

    Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table.

  108. 108.

    Evinfuilt

    August 19, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    @Tom S.:
    Just got back from the Courthouse today, there was LaRouche fan in front, protesting with full NAZI imagery on display. I’m starting to get the feeling that the worst is coming from them once more, and not the typical tea-baggers.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    August 19, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    @Leelee for Obama:

    If Neal Boortz thinks she and her ilk have found the bend and gone around it, I predict the level of insanity is going to go down, at least publicly.

    Let’s hope so. Especially since the looniest wingnuts just don’t know when to quit (Woman Shouts “Heil Hitler!” At Jewish Man Praising Israel’s National Health System).

    More here:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/18/woman-shouts-heil-hitler_n_262554.html

  110. 110.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    I hadn’t actually read the various Palin statements, in order, so trusted your cherry-picked quotes.

    My mistake, trusting an acolyte of Ly’in Sarah’s. I checked.

    Here she is on living wills:

    “Yesterday President Obama responded to my statement that Democratic health care proposals would lead to rationed care; that the sick, the elderly and the disabled would suffer the most under such rationing; and that under such a system, these ‘unproductive’ members of society could face the prospect of government bureaucrats determining whether they deserve health care,” Palin wrote in a note on her Facebook page.

    “The provision that President Obama refers to is Section 1233 of HR 3200, entitled ‘Advance Care Planning Consultation.’ With all due respect, it’s misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients,” she continued.

    “Section 1233 authorizes advanced care planning consultations for senior citizens on Medicare every five years, and more often ‘if there is a significant change in the health condition of the individual … or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a long-term care facility… or a hospice program.’”

    She actually compared living wills and death panels, contrary to your constant claims, over two days now.

    I won’t make that mistake again.

  111. 111.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Palin smeared Emanuel’s brother.

    By quoting him? Oh that’s horrible! I mean, quoting Obama’s health care adviser in a discussion about health care? Where’s the decency?

    Is this the rational discussion prized so highly by liberals? Or is it one of those “the rightness of our positions is so blindingly obvious” that it doesn’t need any discussion? It’s hard to tell.

  112. 112.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Here she is again, equating and conflating “death panels” with living wills.

    “President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government-authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisers are clear enough,” Palin wrote. “It’s all just more evidence that the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care rationing and more evidence that the top-down plans of government bureaucrats will never result in real health care reform.”

  113. 113.

    Wile E. Quixote

    August 19, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Look, T. O’Hara, Sarah Palin is not going to fuck you, regardless of how much time you spend on Balloon Juice defending her, well, I hate to use the word “honor” to describe the actions of a lying, stupid, incompetent hack of a quitter like Palin.

  114. 114.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    O Hara, you haven’t read Palin’s statements, or you’re being dishonest.

    There’s no dispute here. I made the mistake of trusting your recitation of what she wrote, and that was stupid. When I actually pulled up the quotes, she isn’t even trying to draw a distinction.

    She again and again equates living wills with rationing. I was not aware that is what so blatant, because, well, I made the mistake of relying on you.

    Go read what she wrote. That’s what she wrote.

  115. 115.

    Ash Can

    August 19, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    @T. O’Hara: It’s not a matter of me being dim, it’s a matter of you being either completely ignorant of Ezekiel Emanuel’s paper and its context, or too dishonest to admit the truth about it. Either way, go peddle your bullshit to someone else; I ain’t buying it.

  116. 116.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    She actually compared living wills and death panels, contrary to your constant claims, over two days now.

    Lie much? The claim was:

    The truly funny part about that was it was the President who brought that subject up. Palin’s original remarks were about “rationed care” . . .

    You’re the one who has maintained that “the right” did all the conflating, but now you quote from Palin’s response to the President and try to claim you were right all along?

    Why don’t you hyperventilate some more about how evil everyone who doesn’t agree with you is? It’s getting entertaining.

  117. 117.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    @Wile E. Quixote:

    This is a first for me.

    Palin’s statements are actually more egregious than I had believed, read in order.

    I’m grateful to O’Hara for forcing me to check his dishonest assertions.

    I had no earthly idea that she was this blatant a liar, so I have learned something today.

  118. 118.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    It’s not a matter of me being dim, it’s a matter of you being either completely ignorant of Ezekiel Emanuel’s paper and its context . . .

    [snooze] What? Oh, sorry. What exactly does that have to do with whether Sarah Palin made some eeeeviill description of “end-of-life consultations” as “death panels,” or whether President Obama conflated the two in his town hall rebuttal? Nothing, maybe?

    If you’re going to lie about every little point anyone else makes, like the completely obvious one that it was the President who brought up the counseling issue, not Sarah Palin, then it’s really hard to have a discussion about health care. Not that I thought you really wanted to.

  119. 119.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    I’m grateful to O’Hara for forcing me to check his dishonest assertions.

    Projection much? Must be one of the “blindingly obvious” points.

  120. 120.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    The President said she was wrong on living wills. She responded by repeating the lie about living wills, and, INCREDIBLY, then conflating the living will issue with the “best practices” issue, just in case anyone missed her original stupidity or malice.

    That’s what she did. Read the paragraph. That’s called “doubling down” on a lie, my friend.

    He’ll beat her again in 2012, by the way. Obama may not end up being a great or popular President, but the leader of the conservative “movement” is Sarah Palin, and that’s really all he needs.

  121. 121.

    gwangung

    August 19, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    @T. O’Hara:

    Dude, do better. You’re pathetic compared to Makewi, and she’s pretty incompetent as a troll.

    We expect a higher grade of looney tunes; being an outright liar is easy to do. You got time on your hands; you can do better.

  122. 122.

    Anne Laurie

    August 19, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    @jenniebee:

    googling Barney Frank Townhall today, unfortunately one of the top hits is Faux news, which says: “Barney Frank was asked some really tough questions” then cuts to clips of Frank giving snarky responses. It’s really masterful propaganda – the viewer is never confronted with the craziness of their fellow travelers and is left to fill in the “tough questions” he or she would want answered, and then gets to see Frank being dismissive of those unenunciated questions.

    I wish I could find the video clips the local news station showed last night, because they weren’t as susceptible to dishonest reframing. An elderly woman asked how she & ‘people worse off than me’ would be able to see their doctors ‘right away’ if ‘there are all these new people using him.’ Frank replied (much more gently than he did to the LaRouchie) that he knew people who needed health coverage, “fishermen in New Bedford” (his district), and he refused to tell them “We have it, but we won’t let you in.”

    There was also a puffy youngish dude shouting, and Barney’s patented eyebrow-wagging stance as he replied, “You hate the deficit, but you don’t want to include the war? Who do you think is paying for the war, Santa Claus?”

    Also, as a footnote, the poor luzer whining about So Ci Al Ism in the embedded clip is unemployed, which is why Barney tells him he doesn’t think unemployment compensation is you-know-what. Mr. Luzer also complained his mortgage had reset and he couldn’t keep up with the payments, so Frank said he had proposed a bill to use the profits from TARP repayments as loans to people on unemployment specifically to cover their house payments & stay out of foreclosure. That’s when the miserable mope starting whining about The Ideology That Dare Not Spam Its Name… because one program that was already directly assisting him, and a proposed program that would directly benefit him, did not meet the Ideological Purity Standard!

    Truly, in the words of the great Davis X. Machina:

    The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of who will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.

  123. 123.

    Leelee for Obama

    August 19, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    To Davis X. Machina: wherever the quote about the sparrows is:

    We’re not worthy!

    Jeebus, that was funny, succinct and disturbing all at the same time. I send you kudos, Friend. I thoroughly enjoyed reading that at least twice.

  124. 124.

    BDeevDad

    August 19, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    @Brachiator: The Heil Hitler lady’s facebook page was found at Gawker and her personal info is now being publicized all over the web/twitter. Wonder if Michelle Malkin will get upset.

  125. 125.

    Brachiator

    August 19, 2009 at 6:26 pm

    @BDeevDad:

    The Heil Hitler lady’s facebook page was found at Gawker and her personal info is now being publicized all over the web/twitter. Wonder if Michelle Malkin will get upset.

    One can only hope.

  126. 126.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    August 19, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Barney should have said that arguing with her would be like arguing with a stool. This allows the listener to choose which definition of the word stool to use.

    My dining room table suggested this.

  127. 127.

    PhoenixRising

    August 19, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    I started out reading comments because the only thing more satisfying than Barney Frank using some nutty fool as a piñata (to keep up his fitness level) is the witty reflections of others about same.

    Now I have Neil Diamond’s dumbest song lyrics ever stuck in my head. Curse you, Balloon Juice!

    The ultimate YouTube mashup, that someone who doesn’t have two FT jobs and a kid just HAS to get to, right away: This video’s images, of the nut with the Hitler imagery and Barney with his sleeves rolled up, with ‘I Am, I Said’ cut over the sound. Please. I beg of you.

  128. 128.

    kay

    August 19, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    And Michael Steele joins Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich and doubles down, yet again, on the living-will-death panels-rationing lie.

    But Palin told the lie first.

    “It may or may not be. I don’t know. We don’t know what the bill is,” Steele said. “But there’s clearly an attempt by at least the House members to put in place a structure that causes concern for the American people in respect to end of life decisions. I think that’s a legitimate point. You don’t have to call it death panels if you don’t want to. You can call it a panel. I call it rationing.”

  129. 129.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    But Palin told the lie first.

    Here’s the video, one more time, for the exceptionally dense. (As if you didn’t know the answer already.) And you guys have the nerve to call other people “Liar”?

  130. 130.

    zoe kentucky in pittsburgh

    August 19, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    Don’t feed the Palin-loving freeper, folks.

    Let’s take Frank’s comments to heart and stop arguing with a dining room table.

  131. 131.

    T. O'Hara

    August 19, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    Let’s take Frank’s comments to heart . . .

    Do us all a favor, take away his checkbook.

  132. 132.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    August 20, 2009 at 3:16 am

    Do us all a favor, take away his checkbook.

    You wingnutzis are real control freaks, ain’tcha? Now you want to take away checkbooks? I know you goopers are into strange things but checkbook envy is really odd.

    Stick to penis envy, it’s up yer alley anyway (so to say).

  133. 133.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    August 20, 2009 at 3:18 am

    Oops, I fergot about certen werds and teh BJ Mod Gawd et me post.

    Hep me! :)

  134. 134.

    mike

    August 20, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    You guy are fn idiots!!!!!!!!! Barney frank is the biggest fing liar in congress! He played a huge role in the sub-prime scandal. All along this asshole told us there was no crisis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5qKYfqALE&feature=related Now this fool claims that he has no responsiblity for any of it! What a major asshole!

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